epidemic MD
by Crashnet
Summary: Sequel to Chicago MD. Dr. Jennifer Bell returns with her team Prichard, Masters, and Cameron with a crisis hits the city of Chicago. With some surprise visits from old friends.
1. Chapter 1

_**AN: another story featuring the cast of Chicago MD and some very special guests stars. Hope you guys enjoy and please comment if you enjoy.**_

It was a quiet evening in Princeton and an even quieter evening at the grocery store. The parking lot was almost deserted and inside the store just felt like an empty where house, with the exception of a handful of people. There was a young couple were in the grocery store, looking for the right sized watermelon. Tom didn't know why his girlfriend needed to; they were just going to eat the damn thing anyway. Kathleen was holding two of them in her hands when all of a sudden she felt light-headed. She did her best to keep her balance and tried not to fall over. She failed as she dropped both items of food as she hit the floor in the produce section. Thomas leans over her trying to wake her as the store manager comes running.

OPENING CREDITS

Chapter 1

Chicago County Hospital had been pretty busy for the few months and also had been able to add a few new additions to the hospital since the creation of the Diagnostic Medicine Department. Dr. Cameron wasn't at all surprised when the Daniels picked Dr. Bell over her to run it. It was better for her since Daniels decided to have her run the Immunology department staring this week. As Cameron had entered the parking lot and slowly walked towards the front doors when she heard a motorcycle roaring to life as it came flying into the parking lot. Cameron looked in the direction that it was coming from as her eyes widened in surprise as she spotted the familiar orange and black motorcycle. The bike and its rider parked in the space next to Cameron's.

Cameron rolled her eyes as she watched Jennifer Bell remove her helmet and toss her hair. Bell then climbed off the bike and walked over towards Cameron with a backpack thrown over her shoulder. Bell just smiles at Cameron. "Morning, Ally. Beautiful day for a bike ride don't you think?" Cameron just looks at Bell as she walks past and then takes one last, quick look at the bike before she follows Bell into the building.

"Is that who's I think it is it is?" Cameron finally asked. She knew it was. It still had the giant scrape on the side. It had to be. Bell just smirks at her as the entered through the doors of the hospital. They both walk up to the front desk as Bell reaches for her messages.

"That bike is mine now. My brother sold it to me." Bell tells Cameron she goes through the messages. Bell crumbles the pieces of paper and tosses them into the waste basket at the front desk. He came by this weekend to drop it off since his flying back with his family at the end of the week."

Cameron stayed at the desk as Bell started to walk towards the elevators. She turns and looks back when she realizes that Cameron wasn't following her. Bell sees the look of surprise on Cameron's face as she walks back towards the front desk. Bell waves her hand in front of Cameron's face and chuckles lightly when she snaps back into reality. "You okay?" Cameron nods at her. Bell still has a smirk on her face as she began to speak in a somewhat realistic southern accent. "Are you sure, because you looked like someone just walked all over your grave." Cameron just stares at her trying to figure out what the hell that comment meant. Bell rolls her eyes. "I was watching Tombstone last night."

Cameron nods her head in understanding as they enter the elevator and Bell hits the button for the fifth floor. Cameron waits for the doors open as Bell stands next to her in silence. They've became really good friends since the Anderson case and it helped them in the long run. Cameron was able to back up Bell when Daniels went to the board about opening a Diagnostics department. And Bell was able to help out Cameron when Daniels appointed her as head of immunology. Apparently Bell had a lot more pull than Cameron realized. She wondered if she was blackmailing the board members, but she shook her head at that thought. She maybe House's sister, but she's not as conniving as him. "I just didn't realize that he was in town."

"Well, there's that infectious disease conference in town and his wife is making him go. She said something about holding out on him until he agreed. He caved like a stack of cards." Bell enters her office as Cameron follows her in. Bell's new office was much bigger than her old one, which was a perk of becoming a department head. She was also able to get a decent size conference room, another perk. "So he'll be staying with me for the week. It helps Lisa with her budget and I get to spend time with big brother." Bell sat down in her chair as she put down her backpack on the desk. She leaned back as Cameron stood in front of her.

"How long do you think it'll be before the two of you kill each other?" Cameron smiled at her Bell was about the answer when both Prichard and Masters walked in.

"Morning, we caught a case in the ER. 28-year-old female blackout in the supermarket last night with her boyfriend. Paramedics found a slow heart rhythm but then came it came back up." Masters thought that she should continue that is until Prichard cut her off.

"Patient also has nose bleed and complains of abdominal pains. " Prichard knew he had to throw some information in because he can never tell when she was going to stop talking. Prichard hands the file over to Bell. As Bell flips through the file as Prichard and Masters removed their lab coats and starting setting up the differential.

"According to the file there hasn't been any sign of infection, but it also says that's she's been on antibiotics for the last ten days. So any blood work's going to be compromised." Bell stated as Masters started writing the symptoms on the white board.

"You think she might have had a reaction to the medication?" Masters said as she finished writing and put down the marker. Cameron looked over and commented at Masters and Prichard as Bell handed her the file.

"It could also be an infection, but with the meds she's taking it's hard to tell. Take her off the meds and if a fever spikes, then we'll know it's an infection." Cameron closed the file. Bell stood up from her chair as she took back the file from Cameron as she continued, "Then get new blood work so we can figure out what kind of infection it is." The two younger doctors put their lab coats back on and walked out of the room.

A few hours later, Masters and Prichard are in there patient's room drawing blood for testing. Masters then had the idea that they should do sputum cultures to be sure. Prichard looks at her "You realize how long that'll take?" Prichard admired Master's abilities to no end but sometimes he thought that some things she did were a waste of resources.

"I just want to be sure; a full tox screen will take a few days, if it's an infection we might be able to tell sooner if we do the cultures as well." As Masters was finished defending herself the machines inside the room began to beep with a force as the patient's BP starting to drop and her body started to convulse. Masters put the cultures down on the tray next to the bed as the nurses came in to try to stabilize the patient.

Half hour later as the Masters and Prichard enter the Bell's office after the patient was stable. "Patient stable?" Bell asks without looking up at them, she received the page earlier when the patient crashed. She was grateful they were able to stabilize her. She just hoped that they can keep her that way.

"For the moment, now that she's off the anti-biotics, she spiked a fever of a 102.2. We had to put her on diuretics so her brain doesn't fry." Prichard told Bell as Masters wrote the new symptom on the white board. Prichard felt like he hadn't slept in days, he would have thought that he was used to the odd hours by now, but that wouldn't be the case.

"Poached would be more accurate in this case. At least we know this is an infection, fever's a clear sign. Masters, how long are those cultures going to take?" Masters looks back at Bell and wondered how she knew that she did that when Bell spoke again. "No, I'm not a mind reader. I'm a department head I get a report from the lab when you guys perform test." Bell just leaned back in her seat and just smirked at the two of them. They still had a lot to learn when it came to medicine. Hell, so did she, but she wasn't going to let them know that. Masters looked back at Bell before she spoke.

"Another 24 hours, at most. I should get some results in the morning." Master finished as Cameron knocked and entered the office.

"You guys got another problem. Another person just came into the ER with similar symptoms. You might want to go check it out." Bell nods as the two younger doctors rushed out of the room. Cameron walks over to the desk and hands Bell the ER file. This patient also has a high fever and is delirious, and Bradycardia." Bell looks over the file and then tosses a dry erase maker in Cameron's direction so she can write the symptoms on the board.

"Since she is already has the low heart rate, it won't be long for the first patient start hallucinating as well. And we still don't know what we're dealing with." Bell stood at the white board as she looked at the combination of Cameron and Master's writing and began to process the symptoms. Fever, delusions, low heart rate, respiratory problems." Most of these are signs of encephalitis, but we don't know the underlining cause. Bell's seen this before, she knows that this is an infection, but can't be sure where. At least not until she hears a low voice from behind her and Cameron.

"Oh look. You actually have a case of Typhoid fever. Your first week on the job and you have an epidemic on your hands." Cameron freezes in place as she hears a voice that she hasn't heard in years they both turned around as the saw the true master in all of his glory. That was included a new flame cane in his hand. Cameron was not expecting this encounter any time soon, so when she tried to form a sentence, but she was only able to form one word.

"House."

_**AN: decided to end it here for now. Will update soon. Hopefully. **_


	2. Chapter 2

AN: another chapter and let's hope that Huddyholic enjoys this one more than the first one. I do have a house/cuddy conversation planned in this chapter so hopefully she won't be mad at me.

"_Oh look. You actually have a case of Typhoid fever. Your first week on the job and you have an epidemic on your hands." Cameron freezes in place as she hears a voice that she hasn't heard in years they both turned around as the saw the true master in all of his glory. That was included a new flame cane in his hand. Cameron was not expecting this encounter any time soon, so when she tried to form a sentence, but she was only able to form one word._

"_House."_

Chapter 2

She looked at him and noticed that he looked healthy, and that he really wasn't leaning on his cane as much as he used to.

"Now, Cameron I know it's been a few years since you've seen me, but hand off. I'm a married man now." Bell just smirked at him as he took the file out of his little sister's hands and looked through it. He continues to look at the file as Bell decides to tease him a little bit.

"This coming from the guy whose first marriage was a shame and the second one was shotgun." Bell knew the whole story about what happened. House had filled her in after she had decided that she was going to bug him until he cracked and told her everything. Contrary to everyone else's belief, she can be pretty conniving and manipulative. It must run in the family.

"It wasn't shotgun. We wanted to get married." House had no idea why he felt the need to defend himself from his sister. Maybe fatherhood had changed him. Something that he never thought would be possible; to have the ability to change, or maybe it was something that was in him the entire time. Who knows, all he knows is that he better get his little sister off his back before Cameron started to take interest in him again. He was sure Cuddy would kill her then him if that happened.

"Was she pregnant?" bell waited for a response from House as Cameron watched the two of them interact. It was strange but entertaining at the same time. Bell continued when House didn't respond. "Then it was shotgun. And what makes you think that this is typhoid? The test was negative." Bell folded her arms as she resigned from talking about House's personal issues since she was more worried about an impending epidemic that was on her hands.

"The symptoms fit." House states in a 'duh' like tone. He wondered if Cameron was getting to her. House closes the file and hands it back to Bell he then turns and looks at Cameron. "Check the blood work on the latest patient, run the test and I guarantee that it's typhoid." House gives them both that smug expression as Cameron just rolls her eyes and leaves the room. Some things just never change.

Bell sat back down on her desk and put her feet up. She gestured to her brother to so the same. She figured she might as well since he would do it anyway, she figured out that one real quick. "So, how's the family?" She figured she ask since she really hadn't seen the kids in a while. She was hoping to see her niece and nephews at the end of the week, but they were still too young to travel. She would have to make plans to fly out to Jersey to do so.

House sat down and put his feet up on his sister's desk as he answered her question. "They're good. Crying a little less, pooping a little more, driving us both crazy." House had to rub his face just thinking about it, at first he was glad that he came on this trip for two reasons. One was to spend time with his sister. Sure they talk on the phone at least once a week. He really liked talking to her, he like connecting with her. Someone who had the same thought process as him, but without all of the baggage. The second reason was to get a break away from the family, he knew that it sounded cruel, but he really did need one, but he was begging to realize that the longer he was away from his family, the more he missed them. He thought that was a strange feeling he had, he actually missed his family. "Luckily we're having sex again so that's making up for everything." Bell knew that He was deflecting, he may have his priorities straight, but he hadn't changed. She knew that he missed them, but then another thought popped into her head.

'Aren't you supposed to be in a seminar right now?" Cuddy has sent him out here for a reason. She would have gone with them but her sister couldn't watch the kids until the weekend. Also was a little hesitant about being away from her children for more than a day, but she also didn't like the fact that her husband was away from her. So if she found out that he was skipping out on this conference, which Bell knew she would, Cuddy was going to kill him. Just then House's cell phone began to play the imperial march theme from Star Wars. House opens his phone and answers in a low whisper.

"Hey, now's not a good time. In the middle of a conference." He had hoped that she was buying it, but he knew his wife was no idiot. And she voiced her opinion as such.

"House, we both know that you're not in that conference room, so why do you even try to make an attempt to try to lie." Cuddy sat at her desk in her office outside the clinic. Outside the door that said Lisa Cuddy-House MD, the clinic seemed to be fairly busy as nurses were moving backing and forth. "Even though I asked you nicely to take notes on these things because I here, at home taking care of both the hospital and our children." She figured she could at least try to guilt him into going to at least one or two of these things since she was on the phone.

"Which is why I paid Chase an extra $500 to take notes on the ones you wanted to attend. I maybe lazy, but at least I still get the job done." House said smugly He knew that bringing one of his employees to this thing. He didn't want to work but at least he knew what needed to be done. He wasn't a complete jerk. Bell's eyes lit up on that response as she just continued to stare at House as he talked to his wife.

"Was that the reason you wanted Chase to go with you instead of Foreman? So you would have someone there to take notes? Why am I not surprised?" Cuddy should be mad at him, she wanted to be mad at him, but he dotted his "I's" and crossed his "t's." So she was going to at least try to get him to do one last thing. "Are you still going to give your speech? Because I am not going to miss that. No matter how hard you try." She really wanted him to give a speech, and one that was not three minutes long.

House sat there and looked at Bell as the familiar smirk began to form on his face. "Well, here's the thing. There might be a typhoid outbreak and they need to find the source." He knew she wasn't going to go for that, but since he was not there, he might as well mess with her a little bit. But Bell wasn't going to have any of it.

"Contrary to your belief, Greg it's NOT TYPHOID! So stop trying to piss off your wife and give your speech." Bell said as she stood up and stared at House. Bell throws the file back at House and chuckles as she hears Cuddy laughing through the phone. "One, one patient doesn't have a fever, and for it to be an epidemic there would have to be more than two people having the same set of symptoms. Besides, you only want the diagnosis, since when do you try to find the source?" Bell knew what he was doing; he really didn't want to go to that conference and was desperate to do anything to get out of it. Bell moves closer to House as he tries to catch the file. Bell grabs the phone from House and begins to speak to Cuddy. "Lisa, hi. How's my favorite sister-in-law?" She figured she might as well annoy him in the process.

Cuddy leaned back into her chair and smiled, she knew House's sister enough to know that she would make sure that he would give his speech. She liked her from the moment she met her. 'Well, other than my husband trying to manipulate his way out of a conference, I'm doing pretty well. Will you make sure that he gives his speech?"

"I'll put it up on ustream so you can watch it." When Bell made that statement, House's eyes shot up and he began shaking his head. He really didn't want to give that speech. "Actually what you can do is have everyone gather in the main auditorium and broadcast it to everyone there." Bell smile, she loved to watch him squirm. They really were related. Bell heard Cuddy laughing and then agreed to the idea.

"Sounds perfect, I know that Wilson would want to see it. Thank you for the idea. I'll talk to you later." And with that Cuddy hung up the phone and started chuckling to herself. House was going to get even with Bell; she could feel it in her bones.

Bell closed the phone and tossed it back to House. He just looked at her as if she had clubbed a baby seal right in front of him. Which was strange because he was the type of person that would normally not care. "You are so going to get it." The wheels in House's head had already begun to turn as Bell just stood there with that signature smug look on her face. Then her pager went off.

A few minutes later, Bell was in the ER and walked towards Masters and Prichard. They both had scared looks on their faces as they were talking with Cameron. "What's going on?" She asked calmly as Masters stood there, Prichard was a little impatient so he spoke first.

"I think we have an epidemic on our hands. Two more patients just came into the ER and we're setting them up in isolation." He knew he shouldn't have said it so loud, but it needed to be said. Even if it did mean that there might be a panic.

"Don't say that too loud." She already knew he heard it she just hoped that he wouldn't make a big deal about being right. Who the hell was she kidding?

"Did someone say epidemic? I think someone owes me money." House shouted before he even entered the ER. Masters seemed to tense up at the sound of his voice. Apparently he had that effect on a lot of people. Cameron was looking at the file again as Bell rolled her eyes at the sound of her brother's voice. Masters' voice cracked as she began to ask.

"Is that who I think it is?" She was hoping that it wasn't but she the chances were slim and she looked at both Cameron and Bell answered at the same time.

"Yes" Bell knew that this was going to be interesting and she hoped to God that this wouldn't get messy. House walked towards Bell and her team and stood next to his sister. Masters stood in disbelief as she looked at her former boss right in front of her. Bell spoke before House could get another word in. "And don't start on the Typhoid thing because we don't have any evidence that says that's what it is." That's when Cameron spoke up.

"It's not, the test just came back negative for Typhoid. Whatever this is, we better figure this out soon or we're going to have a bunch of dead people on our hands." Cameron handed the folder to House as he looked it over. Cameron knew that this was his territory and Bell was going to need all the help she can get. She had a well-renown diagnostian at their disposal and she was going to make sure that Bell used it. "It's your call, Jen. What do you want to do?"

Bell stood there in the midst of what was to be the beginning of the storm she knew what she had to. She was good, but she wasn't an infectious disease specialist. So, she made the only call she could. "Get the patients up to isolation, get the blood work, and meet me in the conference room for the differential." Bell turns to look at House and simply states to him, "Greg, you're consulting, this is my team, my department. You can give your opinion, but ultimately I run the show. I can watch you and control this situation at the same time. I'm not Cuddy. You understand?  
>She had to talk to him like he was a puppy, but it seemed to work as he nodded in response. "Good besides, you do something stupid and Masters is going to tell." Bell glances back at masters and smiles. Masters nods as she and Prichard head off to do their tasks. Bell looks back at Cameron, who seems to be impressed.<p>

"I'll get the patience set up in isolation and I'll let Daniels know about the situation." Bell nodded at Cameron as she walked away. Bell then stood there alone with House, in the middle of the ER. And House spoke again.

"So what do we do know boss?" House had to ask, he was going to have to wait until after this crisis was over to get even with his sister. Right now they needed to find out what it was that people have. Bell looked back at him as they began to walk back towards the elevators.

"We get to work."


	3. Chapter 3

_**Author's note. Okay I know I haven't written for a while but that's because I have been extremely busy. Between me writing my screenplay, writing an article for blog critics, the two jobs that I have, my mother crashing my laptop that had all of my notes for this story, and the fact that my nana passed away recently, real life has been a bitch (pardon my language). Now I have my laptop up and running again and article is turned in, life is getting back to normal. Well almost normal, I injured my knee again and I can barely move around. Anyway, on with the story.**_

Chapter 3.

Bell marching into her office and throws down the patient files on the conference table like a gauntlet. She walks up to the white board and begins to write down the symptoms as House limps in after her.

"So the games a foot, I take it?" He asks as he sits down in the chair across the room and puts his feet up on the table. He uses his cane to grab the files and pulls them over. "Now, the since we know that the Typhoid diagnosis is off the table, what causes Typhoid-like symptoms without it being Typhoid?"

"You want to Google it and get back to me?" Bell asks him as she finishes writing 'not Typhoid' on the board. She places the cap on the marker and turns to look at House. "It may not be typhoid, but it might be worse if these patients keep piling up on us."

Cameron comes into the office with case files in her hands. "We got two more that just came in, just got them into isolation with the rest." Cameron sits down one chair away from House as she looks at Bell at the board. House looks at Cameron with an arched brow and then looks back at Bell. Bell just rolls her eyes as she grabs the files that Cameron hands to her. "Masters and Prichard are with the patients getting a history."

"What they need to do is get a history of where they've been the last few weeks. Whatever this is it might have an incubation period of that long." Just then Masters and Prichard walk into the room and drop three notebooks the each of them had onto the table.

"I figure we needed more than just a medical history, so I had them go into as much detail as they could as to where they were in the last few weeks. Restaurants, stores and such." Masters looks at Bell and then back at House and Cameron. Masters looks back at them and says. "The fact that it's this many people throw cancer and genetic conditions out the window. This has to be environmental, there's a connection between these people and we need to find out what it is."

House interjects; some things don't change "Thank You captain obvious. What were the results of the blood test of the first victim?" Bell just looks at House and shakes her head.

"Well, if you had bothered to look at the file that's directly in front of you would see the test results. The white blood cell count is elevated and so is everything else. "

"But that was a few hours ago, we need an update on the patients." Bell looked through the stacks and then back at Masters. "How far did you go back with each patient?" Masters looks at Bell, then at House, and then back at Bell.

"About three and a half weeks. I wanted to be thorough." Masters chuckles awkwardly at the group as House just smirks her and then at Bell.

"Always the over achiever. Go get an update on the patient. Redraw the blood and look and test for every infectious diseases that has these symptoms." House states while looking at the file. He then looks up and Bell stares at him. He looks back and then shakes his head. "Sorry, force of habit. The floor is yours chief." Bell looks at the board, _fever__, delusions, low heart rate, and respiratory problems. _

"Have any new symptoms occurred since they got here or even before they arrived?" Both Masters and Prichard look at the files.

"Some of the patients were complaining a=of stomach pains dizziness." Bell writes the two symptoms on the board and then looks back at the team.

"Any vomiting?" Prichard nods his head yes and Masters looks up and does the same. "Okay, Masters. Prichard, I need the two of you to redo the blood work. We're checking environmental factors, but I have a feeling that's going to be a waste of time."

"What should they be testing for?" Cameron asks as she sits up in her seat. She had been spending the last few minutes wondering why House hasn't really said a word. Was he really letting Bell run the show or was he picking his moment and just humiliate her? It wouldn't be the first time that he's done that. But there was a chance that he wouldn't though. Cameron had spent a lot of time with Bell since the Anderson case, and she and House are so defiantly cut from the same cloth when it comes to medical case, but she was still waiting.

"Because it's a better chance that they were poisoned, but we need to narrow it down. So while you two are rerunning the blood work, the rest of us will be going through the histories. Maybe we can try to connect everyone to a certain place." The two younger doctors nod and then exit the room. Cameron then stands up and grabs a file. House stays seated and looks at Bell with both eyebrows raised.

"Now what makes you think that I would even consider doing any grunt work for you? You obviously have a handle on things. Especially Masters, my God you have any idea how long it took me to get her to lie?" Bell looks at House and just smiles.

"I do, but the faster we get through this, the faster you can get your speech over with, and the faster you can go home to your wife without actually pissing her off." House and Bell just stare at each other and Cameron is left wondering if the two of them stared at each other long enough the whole world would come down. It was that intense. Bell finally answered, "and I have no problem calling your mother either. Does she know how her grandkids were conceived?" Bell smirks at House as Cameron looks in surprise.

House eyes shot up faster than gun being fired. "You wouldn't." He knew she would. She was just as conniving as he was and that scared the hell out of him. And what made it worse was that there was nothing he could blackmail her with to stop her from doing so. "Fine, give me a pile and we'll get to work." House takes the file from his sister and begins to read though the file. Cameron then begins to move towards the door. "And where do you think you're going?" There was no way in hell he was going to be the only one stuck doing grunt work with his little sister, so Cameron better have a damn good excuse as to where she was going.

"I'm going to get a few more whiteboards. We're going to need them." As Cameron walked towards the door and as she opens it, she sees a face that she hadn't plan on seeing at all. House being here for a conference there was a possibility that she him, but this was unexpected. So unexpected that, again, she could only say one word. "Robert."

_**Author's note: How many saw that one coming. Okay I'm going to try my best to update this story more often. I'm working on another script and I just came up with an idea for another one. So keep your fingers crossed as I'm hoping to update by Friday. Please rate and Review. **_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Author's Note: told you I get this up before Friday. Enjoy, oh I was thinking that the next story could before about how House met his little sister. Let me know what you think. **_

"_I'm going to get a few more whiteboards. We're going to need them." As Cameron walked towards the door and as she opens it, she sees a face that she hadn't plan on seeing at all. House being here for a conference there was a possibility that she him, but this was unexpected. So unexpected that, again, she could only say one word. "Robert."_

Chapter 4

Chase just stares back at his ex wife. He hadn't seen Cameron since that night he signed the divorce papers, ended their short marriage. She looked the same, which was a good thing. It was nice to see a familiar face. "Allison. How are you?"

"Alright, what are you doing here?" Part of her wanted to slap him for showing up, but she realized that that wouldn't but fair since she was the one who ended things. But the truth was she didn't love him in a way that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. They both would have been miserable and she didn't want to do that to him. The whole Dibala incident was just an excuse to get out of it.

"House paged me. He said that he wanted the notes from the seminar that he missed." Chase spots House sitting in a chair across the room as he watches the exchange between the Ex-spouses. He sits and waits for Chase to hand him the notes as Bell stands next to her brother trying to figure out what was going on. Bell heard the accent the man gave and she had to admit, he was cute. She knew that he and Cameron had some sort of history the way the two of them were staring at each other.

"What up with Crocodile Hunter?" Bell stood with the patient histories in her hand as House sat next to her eating a bag of premade popcorn. "And where in the hell did you get that?" Bell swears that the man has everything in that damn backpack of his. Bell looks back at Cameron and the Aussie gent that was standing next to her.

"That would be one member of my team. Jen, this is Dr. Robert Chase. Chase, this is Dr. Jennifer Bell, head of the diagnostics department here and also my little sister. So have at her." Bell glared at her brother for a moment before she extended her hand to greet Chase. House continued, "He's also used to be married to Cameron. She left him to come back here." That put a shocked looked on Bell's face.

Bell looks at Cameron's face as she goes from a look of complete shock, to the classic 'I'm going to kill you' look. Bell says to Cameron, "This is your ex-husband?" Bell tries to think of what possible stupid thing that he could have done for her to leave him and move to Chicago. "What'd you do? Cheat on her?"

Chase's eyes almost fell out of his sockets from that statement. That though never even entered his mind during their entire relationship. He looked quickly back at Cameron who could not believe that Bell would ask such a thing. "What? No, I would never."

Bell smirks at the statement and then looks back at Cameron. "Then you're idiot for letting this one get away." Bell sits down next to House to watch the scene play out in front of them. There was a reason House brought popcorn, he knew this was coming and he wanted to enjoy the show. As soon as Bell sits, House holds the bag up to his sister and she grabs a handful of popcorn at looks at Cameron and Chase. This should be good, she thinks.

Cameron looks back at the duo that happened to be sitting down across the room. She mentally shakes her head as she notices that they are sitting in similar positions, both chewing on popcorn in the exact same way. She suddenly felt the tension rise in the room. "Do you guys mind?" she knew that House wanted to make Cameron as miserably as he possibly could. That's how he always was.

"No. Not at all. Can I have some more popcorn, Greg?" That response she was expecting from House, not from Bell. Sometimes she forgets who she's related to. So all Cameron can do is walk out of the room. Bell looks at House and asks, "On a scale of one to ten, how awkward do you think that was for Cameron?"

House smiles at his sister, "I would say about a thirteen. Speaking of prime numbers, any word from your girlfriend?" House looks back at Chase as he begins to recover from the encounter with his ex-wife. Chase was thinking how good she looked since the last time he saw her. But at the mention of thirteen's name shook him from his thoughts.

"Remy's fine. She's going through some side effects of the new medication, but she's doing better." Chase figured that he better shake the thoughts of his ex-wife out of his head before House catches him and gives him hell for it. "What kind of case do you have Dr. Bell?" Chase figured a list of symptoms could keep his brain occupied.

"Patients, as in more than one, are suffering from convulsions, respiratory duress, and other than the fact that one patient heart beat is slower, the rest have an accelerated heart beat. Right now we are treating the symptoms, but we still don't know the underlining cause." Bell knew what Chase was thinking and she figured that she could throw him a bone. She wasn't that cruel. "Right now I'm thinking poison more than infectious disease so, we're trying to see if the patients have crossed paths at some point in the last few weeks."

Chase nods in response and sits down and grabs a file and looks through the history. Both Bell and House smirk as Bell gets up and heads for the door. House looks up at her as she heads for the door. "Now where are you going? Don't leave me alone with him." Chase just looks at House slightly offended and then he suddenly realized that he didn't want to be alone with House either.

Bell shakes her head as she opens the door. "I'm going to check on Maters and Prichard to see how far they are on the lab work. And I need to check on Cameron. I'm sure she wasn't expecting Steve Irwin here to show up." Bell walks out the door. Chase looks at House as he just gives Chase an annoyed look. They both say nothing as they get back to reading the files.

Masters and Prichard are in the pathology lab going over the lab work when Prichard finally speaks up. "So that was your former boss?" Masters never really talked much about her experience working at in House's department. He had always wondered what it would be like to work with the man. And his curiosity was getting the better of him, especially as to the reason why she left.

"That was him. Really wasn't expecting to see him anytime soon." That was a shock, and she was partial glad that she wasn't the only one that was so. The look on Cameron's face indicated to her that she was still getting use to the fact that House was here. She also knew that Prichard was going to be asking a lot of questions, so she was trying to mentally prepare herself for the invasion. Luckily she didn't have to since Bell came into the lab.

"Any luck so far?" Bell was starting to get a little nervous; she knew that this could escalate at anytime so she needed to figure this out as quickly as possible. Prichard looked up from the microscope and towards Bell. As he shakes his head Cameron enters the lab with another file in her hand. "Cameron, please tell me that's not another patient." Bell didn't know how much more she could take.

"No, clinic patient. Just need to do some routine blood work." Cameron tells her as she sits down to get begins to work. Bell feels like Cameron is giving her the silent treatment so she shakes her head and sits in the seat across from her.

"Are you okay?" Bell was really hoping that the whole situation wasn't bothering that much. "I didn't know that Greg was going to bring your ex-husband here."

"You could have said something; instead you sat back and waited for the drama to unfold." Cameron was angrier with that than anything else. She could always handle anything House could throw at her. True it had been years since she's dealt with him, but dealing with House was like riding a bike. You just can never forget.

"You're right. I should have and I'm sorry. Sometimes when I'm with my brother, I forget who else is in the room. It's a strange way for us to bond and we're still getting to know one another."

Cameron looked at her and knew that Bell's apology was sincere. That was the difference between Bell and House. Bell shows a little more compassion than House. Don't get her wrong she knew House had compassion, but he didn't show it in a normal way. He always had to be unique in his own way. "Just makes sure he doesn't throw any so-called 'charity cases' at me."

Bell just smirks fat her and nods. "And I'll also keep your Aussie of an ex-husband away from you, if you like." The two of them just chuckle at that thought as Masters' head pops up.

"The man-whore is here?" Bell and Cameron both stop and then look at Masters waiting for her to elaborate on the last statement. Masters at this point had put her eyes back into the microscope.

"What do you mean 'man-whore'?" Both Cameron and Bell asks simultaneously. Bell asked out of curiosity and Cameron asked because she was thinking that there was no way Masters was talking about her husband. She meant EX- husband. Before Masters could respond, all of their pagers go off at the same time. Prichard and Masters are the first ones out of the room as Cameron and Bell follow after.

By the time Cameron and Bell get to the isolation room, Masters and Prichard were already in the hazmat suits and began to resuscitate the young woman who had gone into respiratory arrest. Bell goes in and preps herself as the two younger doctors had continued performing CPR on the patient.

But by the time that Bell had gotten into the room, it was too late. Patient had died and Prichard had to call time of death. Bell had lost patients before, but this one had seemed different. She stood there at the foot of the bed with Masters and Prichard on either side. She stared down at the body that used to be her patient. As and Prichard was taking the patches and turning off the monitors, that's when she saw it. Bell moved closer to the body as Cameron stands on the outside looking on wondering what the hell she was doing.

"Jenn, what is it?" Now Cameron was as curious as the rest of the team as Bell went to open the robe of the young woman.

"This wasn't here before. Look at the skin." Masters and Prichard lean in to see that the skin on the woman's torso was blue. "Bluish skin means lack of oxygen. She suffocated from the inside out." The team members and Cameron look in shock. They were trying to figure out how in the world they missed something like this. "Check the other patients; make sure the skin coloration is normal. And get them all on pure oxygen." Masters and Prichard set off on their tasks as Bell exits the isolation room. She tears off the suit and heads over to Cameron. "They were poisoned. We need to find out with what because time is starting to run out."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Bell sat on the edge of the roof of the hospital as she tried to take everything in. A person was dead and she knew it was deliberate. What she didn't know if this person was the intended target, or just an innocent bystander. What made this worse was there were other people dying and she had no clue what was killing them. Just then House enters through the doorway and stands next to her.

"How'd you know I'd be here?" Bell knew the answer, but wanted to hear it from him. She loved talking to her brother. Even if it was about ridiculous things, each time they talked they got to know each other better.

"I do the same thing to think. Of course New Jersey has a better view." House said as he looked out over the city as he spotted the el train driving through the city. He never really liked the sound of the city, which is why he moved his family to the suburbs of Princeton

"Yeah well, I can see the river from here and that suits me just fine." Bell had to take in a breath, she didn't know what was going on and that frustrated the hell out of her. House could tell. He always had that same look on his face. "I hate not knowing the answer, Greg. It's right there in front of me and I just can't see it."

"Have you ever notice that the more frustrated a person becomes in finding something, the harder it is to actually find it?" Bell looked at House like he was crazy and then looks back at the river. "You need to stand back and look at the bigger picture; right now you're treating the symptoms without knowing the underlining cause."

"Yeah well, right now, it's all I can do at the moment. I have Masters and Prichard running test for toxins and poisons. This was deliberate, one of these people was an intended target and the rest are just collateral damage to cover the bases." Bell jumps down off the ledge and stands to lean on the wall next to House. "What if we get a better history, I mean if we knew which one was the intended target…" House cut her off.

"You really think that would make a difference?" House knew that it might not, but he wasn't getting to know his sister a little better and there was some things he might not ever understand about her.

"If we know who's being poisoned, we would know who did it, and we would have a better chance at figuring out what the hell they were being poisoned with." She knew it was hopeless, but at this point she was desperate. She was about to speak again when Cameron opened the door and stepped out on the roof.

"Hey we have a problem." Both House and Bell waited for Cameron to continue. "The investigator here from the medical examiner's office and he wants to talk to you, Jenn." Cameron looked at them. They both were wearing the dame facial expression as Bell pushed herself off the wall and headed towards the door. House took a moment longer to get off the wall and followed Bell and Cameron inside.

Bell, House and Cameron entered the room to deal with the M.E. investigator that was in the main conference room. Nick Wells was an investigator for the Chicago's medical examiner's office for the last three years. Bell has dealt with him before when she was working in the ER. He always had questions for her about certain patients that ended up on the ME's table. "Hello, Jen. It's been a while." Wells spoke with a smirk on his face. Bell hated that smirk, she wanted to smack that smirk off his face.

"What do you want, Nick. I don't have all day. I've have patents that are still breathing that I have to deal with." Wells walks up to her and hands her four other case files that he had in his hand. Bell, along with Cameron, House, and Chase, who had just entered the room, was confused as to what he just handed her. "What is this, Nick?

"Those are four other patients that have died in the last two weeks under the same unusual circumstances. This is a lot bigger than you think." Wells stands back as he lets the group read through the files. Bell closes her eyes briefly in a silent plea, almost praying that this was a dream. She knew it was a lost cause, as did everyone else in the room.

"Biological warfare?" Cameron was the first to speak, she knew it was on everyone else's mind, but she was the only one who dared to say it out loud. "I mean, that's what the ME's office is thinking right? Otherwise you wouldn't be here." House went to sit down in a chair on the other side o f the room.

"Well, that's just great. Now this really is an epidemic. You think this will get me out of that speech at the conference?" He was trying to ease the tension in the room, which wasn't really working at the moment. "Too soon?" It was another failed attempt.

Wells continued. "As far as we know we still haven't found a connection between all of the victims. And we're still working the toxicology reports but that'll take a while since we don't know what we're looking for." At that moment both Prichard and Masters rush into the room. Both out of breath and with huge smiles on their faces. Masters was the first to catch her breath.

"Sodium Nitrite. They all tested positive for it. Explains everything." Masters was quite proud of herself at that moment. Actually, she was proud of both herself and Prichard. The two of them had worked through the night through a list of possible poisonings that they had come up with on the DDX the night before.

Bell turns to look at Wells, "Don't feel bad, I have a genius working for me. But you might want to have your people to test for that ASAP. Now all we have to do is treat the rest for Sodium Nitrite Poisoning and figure out where the source is."

Both House and Chase looked at Bell, both thinking the same thing and voicing it the same time. "What the point?" Cameron looked towards them as did Bell as House continued to speak. "You have the answer, what else do you need?"

"We still have to find the source if the victims have a common area then this is accidental, but if they have a common person this is deliberate." Wells stated as he sat down with Bell's current case load. "These patients will be fine, but if we can't find the cause there is going to be a lot more sick people. And if I'm not mistaken, Dr House, you frown upon that." Wells smirked in House's direction. House just stared at him. Chase grabbed a bag of chips out of House's bag and started eating them. Bell looked back at the two of them.

"Looks like you were right, Greg. This is an epidemic, just not typhoid. We have three weeks of personal history as well as the medical thanks to Masters. We need to start treatment on the surviving patients, get the background information on the fatalities. We need to know where they were and when. If we don't, all hell is going to break loose."


	6. Chapter 6

Author's note. Okay I know it's been a while but I've had a crazy busy for the longest. I think it had to do with school, work, other side projects that I work on, and the fact that I had knee surgery not too long ago and I was too hopped up on pain meds to focus. I feel like I should explain a few things. I posted this thing as a Cameron and Masters story and I haven't had a scene with the two of them yet. But I will and I would also like to state that this story takes place about three years after House gets out of jail. So I will fill in the details about that in my next story. So here's the next chapter.

Chapter 6

The team got to work. Masters and Prichard had gathered the files and laid them out on the old school conference table. Chase and Cameron brought in the extra white boards that they needed while Bell was working with Wells with the case files of the deceased patients. House just sat in the back of the room eating another bad of chips.

"Hey you mind helping out?" Bell was starting to get a little annoyed with big brother. She was hoping that he might be able to help out a bit.

"Sorry, crippled. Can't do much." Apparently that was wishful thinking. But a smiled appeared on Bell as she replied back.

"I bet that's what your wife said." Bell just smile as Chase and Cameron chuckled slightly while Masters and Prichard just stared in shock. Wells just smile as he handed House a case file. House finishes the chip in his hand before he takes the file. House opens the file while still sitting down.

"Low blow, sis." He says to her as he looks at the file and doesn't even bother to look at her. "And don't even bother with the 'that's what's she said' joke. It's too easy." House still looking at the file as Bell still has a smirk on her face as she sets up the files.

"Hey you left the door open." Bell took the first file and began writing down the places the patients had been in the last three weeks.

"Yeah, and now I closed it. What are we looking for, again?" He asked as he flipped through the file. Bell couldn't tell if he was kidding or not.

"Looking for a connection. Same book store, same market, something that ties these people together. I mean come on we have three geniuses in here with a combined IQ of 500. Not to mention that everyone in here is obsessive and stubborn as mules. Pretty sure we can find one." Cameron and Chase both looked up as they were writing on their boards. Masters had already well on her way with her white board as she writes down the list of places the patients had gone to, so she did her best to keep out of the conversation.

"Well, it looks like we're going to be here for a while so I'm going to need coffee. Anyone else?" Cameron asks looking up and around. She nods and heads out the door. "I'll be right back" Cameron heads out the door. It's about a moment or two later before Chase decides to follow her out. Bell watches as the scene plays out in front of her. She grabs the bag of chips from House and asks in that sarcastic Housian tone.

"Gee, I wonder what they'll be talking about." House just shrugs his shoulders as he continues to read.

Chase goes running into the elevator and manages to slide inside before the door close. The two stood in silence for a moment as they were the only two people in the elevator. Chase was the first to speak. "So how are you?"

Cameron looks at Chase and then laughs, "We haven't seen each other in five years and all you ask is 'how are you?'" Cameron continues to laugh and shake her head.

"What? It's a valid question. And you haven't answered it, by the way." Chase stands there with his arms crossed and with a smug look on his face. Cameron just looks at him; she never could resist his charm forever. So she caves

"I'm good. You?" Cameron decides to turns the tables a bit.

"I'm alright. I realize now that I'm House's official note taker for this conference. Actually, I think I'm his bitch."

"I won't argue with that." Cameron smiles as Chase's eyebrows shoot up in surprise in response.

"Hey, you used to defend me you know. I was expecting a little sympathy." Chase shakes his head this time in disbelief.

"Well you wouldn't be here if you weren't now, would you?" Cameron smiles at Chase as she sees his eyebrows still shot up towards his hairline. Chase looks at her as he finally caves.

"Yeah you're right. What can I say; I respect the man enough to be his bitch." They both start laughing as the elevator doors open and they step out. Cameron walks slightly in front of him as she shows him to the cafeteria. There was one question that she's been dying to ask, and hopefully Chase would be the one to give her a straight answer.

"So, is it true that House drove his car into his dining room?" Chase stops as he's about to grab a cup for his coffee and he turn to Cameron who has a look on her face that says, 'you better give me a straight answer look.' Chase takes a breath as he answers.

"It was Cuddy's EMPTY dining room, before they got married. He served about a year in prison before Foreman got him out." Cameron wore a look of what was shock amusement and horror on her face. She shook it off before she began to speak.

"Okay you need to start from the beginning."

Masters stood at the whiteboards that had the places the victims had been to in the last few weeks. Knowing that there was a connection and that there were three geniuses in the room, this should be easy. But at the moment she appeared to be the only one working as House was on his phone talking.

"Rachel sweetie, I know I'm the one who checks your homework and I would love do to it right now, but there would be no way for me to do so because I can't see it." Masters loses her train of thought as she eaves drops on House's conversation with his daughter. "Well, I don't have a web cam handy at the moment. Rachel, you'll just have to let Marina check your homework now and if it's wrong when I get back, I'll have a word with you teacher." Masters wonders what happened there, how House was able to become such a loving, caring person. He actually sounded human when he was on the phone with his daughter. She was beginning to wonder if he suffered any head trauma from when he crashed his car. House was still talking. "I promise I'll make sure your mother never finds out. Okay?" House pauses for a moment to let Rachel answer, and then he responds, "I love you too. Bye." House hangs up the phone and looks back at Masters. "Do you listen in on everyone conversations, or our mine just that interesting?"

House waits for a response from Masters; it really had been too long since the long since she's had to deal with him. So she decided to be honest with because she knew that always drove him crazy. "Only the ones I find adorable."

House rolls his eyes at her thinking that this kid hasn't changed one bit. "Good God, you're hopeless. And you mind telling me what you're looking for? Because if there's no connection between these patients. And I doubt that you can too." He always loved messing with her; it was his way of testing her. He figured that if she can handle him, that she can handle anything. He remembered that she failed that test a long time ago, but he was hoping that she was a little more prepared this time. It's been a few years since she burst out of her bubble and was out in the world. He hoped that it did her some good. That being here, in this place, with his sister, did her some good.

"There is a connection, we just don't see it. This is too big o f a coincidence for them not to be connected." She knew what he was trying to do, always trying to push. Always trying to get the best out of her. She didn't realize it then what he was trying to do. She always thought that he just didn't like her, but he was really trying to push her and she was grateful for it. "All of these people got sick during the last few weeks, we know what made them sick, and we just don't know the source." Masters was actually starting to get frustrated with this. She hated leaving things unfinished; it just wasn't natural for her to do so.

"Any luck so far?" Bell came into the conference room with Wells following closely behind her. She felt that she needed to stretch her legs out and gets some air because she was going to punch someone if she didn't figure this out anytime soon. She looked at the room and noticed that Masters was at the board while House sat on the opposite side of the room. "Where's Prichard?"

"He went to get food. Some of us need more than cafeteria food to sustain nutrients." House shot back at his sister. "And where were you?" House decided to push his luck a little bit here since he never really had the chance to do so before.

"I needed some air. Where Cameron?" She knew that Cameron had invested a lot into this case and that she really could use her help at the moment.

"More than likely she in a janitor's closet somewhere having sex with her ex-husband." House just had to throw his two cents in just to see if he can get a reaction out of anybody. He was really hoping that it would rattle Masters just a little bit. There was no response, the only thing that happened was Bell shrugging her shoulders as she and Wells sat down at the conference table. House just shook his head in disappointment; he was really hoping someone would bite. Prichard then entered the room with three boxes of pizza and sets them down on the table. "What the hell took you so long?"

Prichard opens the top pizza box a grabs a slice of the pepperoni Chicago style pizza and takes a bite out of it. "I had to wait for them to bring me packets of the red pepper and parmesan cheese. They just got a new shipment. Prichard continued to eat his pizza as House and Wells both grabbed a slice. Bell just looked at the table and then back at Masters, who had that same look in her eyes. Masters spoke first.

"Didn't one of the patients say that they started to feel sick after…?" Bell cut her off.

"They got back from the dinner at a pizza place." She can't believe they missed something like that. Did they say where?" Masters grabs the file on the table and looks through it. She shakes her head. "Find out. Prichard, I need you to go find Cameron and find out from the rest where they went to eat." Both Masters and Prichard both run out of the room. Bell grabs the files on the table and looks through one while she throws file at House, who in the process dropped his bag of chips in the process. House just glares at her while she remains unfazed by his stare. Wells looks at Bell hoping that they found what they were looking for.

"You think they'll find the source?" He was really hoping they her team was that good.

"God I hope so." Bell, was really hoping that they found what they were looking for. House then got up out of his seat and tossed the file back at his sister.

"If not, you're still going to have a lot of sick people on your hands." House then grabs a box of pizza and limps out of the conference room.


End file.
